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56 June 21, 2020 N N June 21, 2020 57 SPORTS WORLD THE STORY OF HOW AN ARISTOCRAT ACHIEVED IRELAND’S BEST EVER WINTER OLYMPIC FINISH SPORTS WORLD Peerless Lord CHAMP: Katie Taylor Taylor’s COOL AS YOU LIKE: Lord Wrottesley August in full flow in Salt Lake City in 2002 ON THE CREST’: Lord Clifton Wrottesley return who sleighed takes to the slopes BY SEAN McGOLDRICK WORLD champion Katie Taylor looks odds-on to return to the ring in August. Her long-anticipated To be honest, I mega-fight against seven-weight world don’t remember champion Amanda Serrano, which had been provisionally thinking I might rescheduled for August 15 in the back garden be able to win a of promoter Eddie Hearn’s Essex estate, his demons fell through. medal. I was in such Serrano’s manager and trainer Jordan a state of shock... Maldonado, who is married to Serrano’s sister Cindy, announced BEWARE OF THE UNDERDOG: PART THREE It was a position in a statement that the fight wouldn’t take IN this series the Sunday World recalls some of the celebrated place because her moments in sport when the underdog prevailed against the I never vaguely THREE TOO GOOD: Jim Shea of the USA purse had been halved. odds. Today we recall how an Irish aristocrat Lord Clifton, 14th celebrates his 2002 Olympic skeleton gold Even when the Baronet, 6th Baron Wrottesley came within touching distance of dreamt I’d be in. in Salt Lake City with silver medallist Martin original fight contracts winning Ireland’s first ever medal at the Winter Olympics in 2002. Rettl and bronze medallist Gregor Staehli were signed there were LORD CLIFTON HUGH LANCELOT persistent doubt over DE VERDON WROTTESLEY whether the Brooklyn- based, Puerto Rican- FOR an hour it was the greatest feel-good born fighter would step story in the history of the Winter Olympics. into the ring against ON A PILGRIMAGE TO LEARN ABOUT HIS LATE FATHER, Taylor. Ireland’s Lord Clifton Hugh Lancelot de Verdon So, it’s not surprising Wrottesley was in the bronze medal position in that the Taylor camp the skeleton at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. had a replacement There was a problem though – this was never part CLIFTON WROTTESLEY FOUND OLYMPIC FAME INSTEAD lined up. of the plan. What started out as a spiritual pilgrimage to learn about Options a father he never knew had taken an unexpected turn, wasn’t cut out to known as his ‘crash-test dummy’. ity, banking up to 60 runs on the thinking I might be able to win a Taylor could fight at leaving Wrottesley utterly unprepared for the next part be in a bobsleigh. Nash even sported the yellow and Olympic skeleton course in Salt Lake medal. I was in such a state of shock super-lightweight and of the challenge. I went to the easiest black coloured, four-quadrant circle City. “I got as many rides as I wanted, that I put that thought completely avoid putting her four Heroic failure is a recurring Winter Olympics theme, WORLD CLASS: track in the world and turned – the official symbol of crash dum- because nobody thought I would aside. world lightweight belts providing the back story for inspirational movies like Clifton Wrottesley in over three times in a row, admitted- mies – on his helmet. make it into the Games,” he said. “It was a position I never vaguely on the line. ‘Cool Runnings’ and ‘Eddie the Eagle.’ ly on a difficult corner.” Fate intervened in 1999 when the Being a natural deal maker helped But if she stays in the But the story of how an Irish aristocrat achieved action for Ireland dreamt I’d be in. It’s a shame because during the Skeleton His co-passenger James Nash, International Olympic Committee him as well. if I had prepared for it I might have 135lbs category she Ireland’s best ever result at the Winter Olympics is far whose father Tony had won an Olym- (IOC) added the skeleton, which is may face one of three World Cup at Utah He mounted a camera on his hel- been able to keep it together for the more authentic. pic gold medal for the UK in Inns- essentially a version of the Cresta met and recorded one of his runs fighters. Clifton Wrottesley was born in Dublin on August 10, 1968. Olympic Park in 2001 second run.” bruck in 1964, became affectionately Run, to the programme for the 2002 down the Olympic course. He made Apart from being psychologically Unbeaten British His father Richard was a swashbuckling former British Winter Games. fighter Chantelle dozens of copies of the tape and trad- unprepared, Wrottesley always had paratrooper turned pig farmer, who lived with his young Even though the then performance Cameron has ed them with competitors in return problems doing fast runs back to back, wife Georgina Anne Clifton in Newtown House, a large director of the British skeleton for coaching tips. repeatedly called out stately home and farm near Abbeyknockmoy in Co Galway. Simon Timson helped organise the possibly because he had never perfected Taylor; another option Wrottesley’s father-in-law Urs his starting technique where most time Everything changed, however, on strength-and-conditioning pro- Schwarzenbach, a Swiss billionaire is Jelena Janicijevic November 9, 1970 when Richard, It was the start of a lifelong love gramme for Wrottesley, it quickly financier, lent him his physiothera- could be made up. from Serbia, while the then aged 28, was killed. He crashed affair with that famous stretch of became apparent that the British slid- pist for the season. A couple of errors on the run com- Bray fighter’s former his Jaguar E-type into Ballinamore ice. Wrottesley (inset below) is now ers weren’t interested in having him. “I used him as currency as well. pounded the issue, and he went rival from her amateur Bridge, about 24 miles from his the most successful ever competi- “They had been on the circuit for I’d let him treat other competitors in from being third to ninth fastest. career Estelle Mossely home. He didn’t leave a will. tor in the Cresta Run, winning the six to eight years and they were return for their track notes.” He missed the bronze medal by 0.42 is another possibility. “We had to move somewhere where SEAN McGOLDRICK blue-riband Grand National event a damned if they were going to accept seconds. Meanwhile, a public the cost of living was cheaper. My record 15 times. me.” Radar “Finishing fourth was absolutely spat has erupted mother chose Fuengirola, a Spanish “After leaving the Army I wasn’t So Wrottesley set about putting the right result. The three guys who between the Serrano seaside resort. We lived in an apart- sure what I wanted to do next, so I together his own team – on the cheap. By the time the final practice ses- have been most helpful to me on the camp and Lou DiBella ment in a block of flats and my first Too Far’ – died. Clifton inherited the politics and sociology. He followed The shadow of the father cast a long decided to take three months off and Needing a team-mate he recruited sion for the skeleton event concluded circuit were Jimmy Shea, Martin who negotiated the language became Spanish.” family peerage – including the right his father and grandfather into the shadow on his life. He wanted to find went to work in St Moritz Toboggan- Canadian Tim Hassan, who was based Wrottesley was more than a curiosity Rettl and Gregor Staehli and they deal with Matchroom His grandmother, however, to sit in the House of Lords. This British Army, joining the Grenadier out more about him. ing Club. in Calgary, which was hosting the figure after finishing seventh and won the medals. for the Taylor-Serrano Guards Regiment after graduating became increasingly irri- right was later removed by “What I did know about him came World Championship in 2001. 11th on his two runs. “Suddenly I was “They were my mates and I would showdown. from Sandhurst. on the radar of the other nations.” tated about him speak- British Prime Minister through rose-tinted spectacles because Prank He spend a month there in late 2000 have felt terrible had I had nicked In a series of ing to her in a Spanish Tony Blair. Infamously, his father had failed it was from my grandmother who told learning the track which proved The kickback was immediate and tweets DiBella flatly accent. She was ada- to make it into the regiment. He brutal. Later that night the Amer- a medal away from any of them as More significantly, his me these wonderful stories, whereas my “I did all the jobs that nobody an invaluable learning experience they had spent years on the circuit. contradicted the mant that Clifton be grandfather – who he was expelled from military college for the World Championships the icans lodged an objection to the suggestion that mum never really talked about him. else wanted to do,” he recalls. He “It p***** off the Brits because I educated in England. had only met once – left after being caught scaling the wall even fell for an initiation prank. “I following year where he finished a custom-built helmet he was wearing. Serrano’s purse was “One way of getting to know my beat them and it p***** off some of So he returned to a trust fund for his ed- of a nearby girl’s secondary school father better was to go and visit the spent a whole day polishing a brass credible 21st.

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